Pain of the elderly
by Dugarm
Summary: A young nurse ask an elderly Naruto why he refuses to be treated, his answer is quite unexpected.


Author's note : I'm not a good writer, but after reading many great fanfiction on this website I've decided to publish a story of my own. English is not my first language nor have I bothered looking for a beta reader, so just ignore any errors that might have slipped my vigilance. Hopefully you'll enjoy this short story regardless!

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_A young nurse had recently began taking care of a difficult patient, an old man who refused treatment at any given chance. Most of the time she was able to treat him despite his protest, but the old trickster certainly knew how to make her job difficult whenever he had the strenght to do so. It was like the man had given up on life, which intrigued her to no end. Today her curiosity got the best of her and she finally asked him why he always made things difficult for the hospital staff. His answer was quite disheartening and she couldn't get it out of head._

_-_-Unlike the majority of people, I find myself eager to pass on in my final moments. After all, I was granted a surprisingly long and eventful life despite the dangers of my profession. Of course the risks have greatly diminished since the days of my youth, but make no mistake, one had to accept they could die in the line of duty at quite a young age as a shinobi in the past. Yet here I am waiting for the death god to welcome me in it's cold embrace.

Rest assured it isn't because of the many hardships I have faced due to being a jinchuuriki in my younger days, nor is it because of the deaths of my loved ones along the way. To my greath shame, I have failed to be there for my family and I look forward to be reunited with them in the afterlife, if only to seek their forgiveness. If you are wondering what I could have done to ask for such, I guess I could enlighten you. That bastard of a Shinagami seems to be enjoying seeing me wait for his arrival anyway.

You see after surviving the clusterfuck that was the fourth great shinobi war, which had been sparked by Uchiha Madara's madness, many conflicts soon erupted between all of the countries. Konohagakure was hit heavily during that time, having gained the resentment of many. We have my former best friend Uchiha Sasuke and that senile warhawk Danzo to thank for that in case you didn't know. One had stepped on too many toes in his quest for vengeance while the other had made quite a mess of things during his short term as our rokudaime hokage. Thankfully we managed to survive by the skin of our teeth and soon came to an agreement with the few remaining countries after an uneasy peace once more decended on the world. The old shinobi system needed to be changed for the better or we would forever had been at each others troath. Among these changes, it was decided that the shinobi were no longer meant to be tools of war and death. You were probably taught all of this in school young one, but I'll still tell you about it, in case you might be learning something new.

The first and most important change was that we shinobi were relinquished into serving our respective countries as both law enforcers and medical specialists, instead of being directly involved into military matters. Our destructive justu were slowly cast aside to be replaced by mostly non-lethal techniques. We mainly kept to using skills that allowed us to investigate crime scenes, restrain and capture criminals and finally, to either heal or prevent both injuries and sickness in the general population. Just like all the other hidden villages in their respective country, Konoha had to build several outposts and hospitals within Hi no Kuni, to help us manage it's vast territory. The task was far from easy considering our rather depleted numbers.

Another change was the abolishment of the kage position, as you know, each hidden village are now lead by a council composed of their most level headed shinobi and a few politicians of the country hosting them. Even tough this had destroyed any chance I had of ever achieving my dream of being hokage, I didn't complain seeing I had been elected as a shinobi representative within konoha's council. It was quite unexpected tough, seeing I was prone to follow my emotions rather then think rationaly back then.

Thankfully these changes went nearly unopposed, seeing no sane person wanted to experience the bloodshed and misery the last chain of wars had brought upon the elemental nations ever again. The few who had opposed and openly resisted our new ways had been either imprisoned or permenantly silenced. From that point forward I spent a good portion of my life supervising our shinobi taskforce and resolving issues, either in the field or behind a desk. It was an harsh and time consuming task, especially the damned paperwork. Sadly I took my new position far too seriously. I dedicated nearly all of my time for the village and my family life ended up suffering because of that. Funnily enough the Sandaime hokage, who was like a grand-father to me, was faced with the same problem.

By that point I had married Amaru, a tomboyish yet beautiful redhead that I had met during the failed Soragakure attack against our village before the fourth greath shinobi war happened. We had been reunited during said conflict, she was of great help healing not only my fellow shinobi but my broken heart as well. I had recently lost my first lover Hinata in a clash against the Nanabi no Kabutomushi at the time_._ I simply couldn't fathom living without her and had tried to commit suicide, but Amaru saved me by stopping my blade with her own flesh like I had done for her under different circumstances beforehand. Only exception is that she also gave me a rather painful beating afterward to knock some sense into me before soothing my pain with her love and support.

From that point forward our relationship grew slowly into something more and she eventually became pregnant with our first and only child, our beautiful little girl Mikomi. Our beautiful angel was nearly an identical clone of her mother, in the same way I used to share a lot of similarity to my own father in the look departement. We did our best to give her a normal childhood, despite the hectic lifestyle and environement that comes with residing in a shinobi village. But that is where my dedication to my work came and ruined everything, it gradually destroyed my relationship with my daughter.

At first she was saddened that I was away so often and missed me. When she was old enough, she entered medical school to emulate her mother, instead of trying to become a field shinobi like me. During that time, I wasn't there to support her trough her insecurities nor to bear witness to some of the more important events and accomplishement of her school life. It didn't take much more time before she started resenting me because of my frequent absence. Then disaster struck, it was shortly after her 17th birthday that her mother fell ill and rapidely faded away despite our best medics' efforts to cure her from her mysterious illness. Mikomi slowly fell into a deep depression has the disease progressed, blaming herself for being powerless to find a cure despite her own vast medical knowledge.

My sweet Amaru was eventually taken in death cold embrace, leaving me a single father with a daughter that wanted nothing to do with me. I helped Mikomi recover from the grim event as best I could, which was easier said then done considering her view of me at the time paired with my own grief. But I persisted and slowly helped her recover one day at a time, gaining some of her trust back in the process. She still hadn't fully forgiven me, but she didn't act as if I was a stranger anymore and that warmed my hearth more then she would ever know. But fate decided I would never suceed in fully winning my daughter's love back, two years afterward the unthinkable happened. She perished in an explosion caused by a gas leak in her apartment.

I gave up on life on that day, becoming nothing short of a recluse. I spent my remaining days on this earth asking them both to forgive me in the confine of my home. Even tough Amaru rarely conftronted me about my dedication to my work, there is no doubt in my mind that she too has suffered because of it. My only wish now that I lay on my this retched hospital bed is that they are willing to give this old fool a second chance in the afterlife, to be there for his family like he should had been in the first place. Now if you don't mind, I've tired myself sating your curiosity with my little story. I'd like to be left alone to rest a bit until a certain deity finally decide to come for my soul.--


End file.
